Slick’s Nit-Picks: Young Justice, Episode 121 – “Image”

Skeletons in the closet are commonplace amongst this team. Just about every member has a secret that they want to stay hidden. Batman and Robin want to hide their identities; Batman even hides his hero persona outside of Gotham where people think he is just an urban legend. Artemis hides just about everything about her. Superboy probably does not even know what he is hiding yet (neither do we for certain) and Aqualad has hidden things from the team that were discovered. However, the one with the most to hide seems to definitely be Miss Martian. We know that she alters her appearance and her past behavior indicates that it is more than just taking on a human form. In Bialya, when her memories were flooding back to her, we caught a glimpse of a White Martian from her memories. Exactly what this means seems to be her most closely guarded secret.

WILL THE REAL M’GANN PLEASE STAND UP? Green Arrow and Black Canary are called to the cave by Batman and Martian Manhunter. They are shown a recording of a training session between Superboy and Black Canary where she drops him with a roundhouse kick. As she helps him up, she congratulates his progress and says he needs a reward; she kisses him. The situation is quickly diffused as it is revealed that it was Miss Martian pretending to be Canary. Still, the real trainer of the team has a talk with the impostor which doesn’t quite clear the air completely as Batman has a mission for the team. Aqualad, Zatanna and Artemis are not present and Robin is made the leader of a mission to Qurac. It appears their president is about to hand his country over to Bialyan leader, Queen Bee to make a unified Bialyan nation. Everyone knows this is wrong and the team has to stop it. One of Queen Bee’s known subordinates, Psimon shows up and wants his rematch with Miss Martian from when the Super Cycle was discovered. During that mission, M’gann faced some demons she wanted to keep buried, thanks to Psimon. One wonders how far she will go this time to keep her secrets.

THE TRUTH. . . WILL ENSLAVE YOULittle is known about Miss Martian's past other than the “fact” that she is J’onn J’onzz’ niece. However, J’onn has several hundred nieces and nephews; according to Red Arrow, he told as much to Black Canary. He also only met M’gann five months ago (six now), so the truth of her relation to him is possibly suspect. There are also three instances before this episode which make M’gann’s entire persona questionable. In “Targets,” she explains to Conner the discrimination of Green Martians against White Martians with sympathy for the latter. She quickly adds “which I’m green” as if anyone was questioning her. Black Canary tries to comfort her after the fiasco of a training mission the team was on. She says “you’ve turned white,” to M’gann, which makes her freak out for a moment until she realizes that she meant Caucasian. Finally, Snapper Carr speaks of her “uncle” during the school Halloween party and says that Martians aren’t hostile. She agrees quickly adding, “of course not,” but then she looks off to the side with worry. Psimon exposes her secret when they battle in Qurac. Mentally forcing her to assume her true form, he reveals and records the fact that she is a White Martian. Wishing to once again bury her secret, she nearly buries Psimon. Unfortunately, the recording he made reached Queen Bee and she is more than willing to tell all of her comrades if M’gann does not do what she says from now on. So if the team didn’t have a mole before, it sure does now.

MORE CONTINUITY ERRORSThe show is getting a bit goofy with the time slips. First we have Red Tornado’s siblings being constructed before him when it should be after. There is also the frustration of seeing Zatanna as a teenager when she should be a (very) grown woman in the age range of Batman. This episode should have been a huge high five for fans of the Teen Titans show because the boy Garfield Logan, would otherwise be named Beast Boy, or Changeling. But wait, why is he eight years old? Exactly what I am wondering. It is not bad enough that you aired a show on the same channel which featured the same Robin (Dick Grayson) fighting alongside Gar and they were approximately the same age. It would be one thing if that show were completely over and done with. However, one only has to watch in between shows and you might see “New Teen Titans,” a series of shorts with super-deformed versions of the same characters from the original show, like Robin and Beast Boy. This aspect of the show really pisses me off, but I either have to accept it or stop watching. It is just thatI get how DC loves to have multiple universes and all; in some ways it is a good thing to be able to see variations on our favorite heroes.Just stop changing their ages because that part makes no damn sense.

NO DOUBTKid Flash may be a bit of a class clown, but he is very intelligent and also very perceptive when the subject is not girls. He congratulates Robin twice in this episode, once for being appointed mission leader and later for saving a nation. Robin did an excellent job as leader on this mission and has shown true growth as an individual. Yet he still has doubts about his ability to lead. Garfield did get hurt, but there is no way anyone can guarantee everyone’s safety at all times. He made the right decisions and was quick to keep Superboy from following M’gann which would have probably led to Harjavti’s death. While this was a temporary promotion due to Aqualad’s absence, it proves that the team will be in good hands if anything happens to Kaldur.

Overall, fans will love this episode. Things are shaping up for the season finale to be absolutely fantastic. We have to wonder what Queen Bee is going to do with Miss Martian and how long it will take for Garfield’s powers to emerge. Originally, he gets his abilities after a monkey bites him and coincidentally a monkey is biting him at the end of the episode. Still, I think they will play this Beast Boy off as having hybrid human/Martian DNA. It only makes sense that he will turn green because M’gann said her shapeshifting happens on a cellular level. So when she is green, she actually is a Green Martian. I wonder if her refusal to accept who she really is might go deeper still. In the comics, she struggled for control against her future, evil persona, the winner able to what she pleased. The future self also took on an appearance similar to what M’gann showed the team at the end except she was white. With the next episode focusing on Artemis’ secrets, I am wondering how this team is going to stay together through another season.. Good luck to them all.

Slick is a man of many hats and can be found all over RAGE Works delivering content to the masses. As Editor at RAGE Works and moderator on live My Take Radio broadcasts Slick ensures everything is running smoothly and everyone is having a good time.